WORLD OPEN: Perry saved his worst until last to suffer final agony

Alan Swann

Fenland Potter Joe Perry’s late fightback wasn’t enough to save him from defeat in the final of the World Open in Yushan, China (July 31).

Perry went down 10-8 to fellow Englishman Ali Carter after coming back from 8-3 and 9-5 down. World number 11 Perry won £40k, while Carter took home £90k.

Perry was playing in his fourth ranking final and looking for his second title having landed his first at the Players Championship last year. The 41-year-old produced stunning snooker to beat Neil Robertson 6-2 in the semi-finals on Saturday (July 30), but only showed patches of that form in the final.

Perry held leads of 2-1 and 3-2 early in the final, making breaks of 54, 56 and 78, but it was Carter who dominated the middle part of the match as he reeled off six frames on the spin. Runs of 80, 54, 91, 53, 61 and a superb 70 clearance in frame 11 helped the Essex potter surge 8-3 ahead.

Perry, from Chatteris, stopped the rot in a scrappy 12th then made an excellent 131 in the 13th to close to 8-5. Breaks of 37 and 31 helped Carter win the next, then Perry made a 106 to claw back to 9-6.

Carter had a match winning chance in frame 16 but missed the last red with the rest when trailing by 11 points, allowing his opponent to clear up and reduce the deficit. And Perry continued to gather momentum in the next as a run of 92 saw him draw within one frame at 9-8.

But two-time World Championship finalist Carter withstood the pressure and finished in style with a break of 127.

Perry said: “I struggled all day, I didn’t feel comfortable. I was battling against my cue action. I only started to play when the match was over and I made a game of it. But it’s the worst I have played for a long time and I’m really disappointed in myself.

“I’ve had a good tournament and produced some good performances, but I saved the worst until last. Ali played better than me and made less mistakes. I had more than enough chances.”